Shh. Can you hear that? Yup, that's the sound of a pin dropping when it comes to Microsoft shouting out and marketing Windows Phone. The company had a rather elusive presence at CES earlier this year, as well as the recent Mobile World Congress. If you ask anyone, "Who's powering Windows Phone marketing?" I bet the majority (if not everyone) will answer, "Nokia." So what's up with Microsoft?

The Register has gone into detail as to how hints were supplied at MWC that Microsoft doesn't feel the need to prove how great the company (or the mobile platform) is, which could be the case if Windows Phone were the number one platform - but this isn't quite reality just yet. There have been grumbles about Microsoft, its Windows Phone corporate vice president Terry Myerson and its apparent "play-dead" marketing strategy.

Sources were noted by The Register to state that Myerson is "old school Microsoft", attempting to preserve the purity of the platform. What's somewhat alarming is how it's reported that defects apparently require three OEMs to demand something is fixed before any action is taken by Microsoft. This is a stark contrast to what we witness from the likes of Joe Belfiore and Ben Rudolph - where enthusiasm for the product is all that's displayed.

It's interesting to note that no complaints were reported from Nokia, but rather from other parties. Nokia's Michael Halbherr informed The Register:

"Number one, we build great products. This is the second generation of devices, and you can now see our full portfolio. We’ve worked with Microsoft to stress differentiation. We do this with imaging and location, and also with our design. Number two, we work with operators. Operators want to rebalance the ecosystem."

Halbherr finishes off with should a problem arise, he can quickly contact Terry and vice versa. Microsoft is a massive company, there's no doubt about it, but if they're serious about Windows Phone (which appears to be the case) then it makes one wonder why they're not pushing it as much as (or more than) Nokia. We would have preferred to have seen a huge presence at MWC this year with representatives on the ground and getting word out.

But alas, Microsoft is Microsoft. One could also argue that this could also be the reason why OEMs have shied away from Windows Phone. We could go into a full-scale rant about Microsoft and how the company has handled Windows Phone in the past (as well as the present). You could take Windows Phone 7.8 as a perfect example. Where is it? Why has it been delayed? What's being done about the Live Tile issues? There's just a sheer lack of communication with consumers.

There's still hope that cries are to be heard from not only consumers, but developers too. Microsoft has a superb product (according to reviews, feedback and adoption rates), which needs care, love and attention. For the time being, it's receiving all three from everyone but Microsoft.

A good product doesn't guarantee success. Just ask WebOS users, arguably the best OS of its time but utterly mismanaged by Palm then the disastrous HP purchase. Wouldn't be surprised if the same happened to WP.

Ditto this. webOS maybe hit 2 million users at it's height. WP is probably pushing 25-30 million by now and gaining momentum. far more support than webOS ever had. WP now has numbers that developers can't ignore anymore. When you start hitting 25+ million users, you pretty much have to consider developing for that platform if it's still growing.
Witht the upcoming theater adverts, I think MS is going to be pushing WP pretty strongly. I wouldn't worry too much right now.

Android is not viable for many. i just plain refuse to use Gmail, or have a Google account and have them spy on me. And its only really due to the lack of transparity about what they hold on me, and the inhibility to gaurantee they delete everything when I leave.
Microsft have a great story. Outlook.Com (hotmail is now awesome). EAS better than IMAP. Skydrive is awesome. Office Web Apps tied to Skydrive, or chose to use full Office is exceptional. Office 365 for work. Xbox.
As a consumer, using those products is terrific. Windows Phone is great, but its _still_ an 80% product.
Whereas iPhone is a 95% product. I'd even give the new Blackberry a chance, if the battery life wasn't soooo bad.
So that leaves me with iPhone or Windows Phone. And I like the MS Ecosystem better. But I am still annoyed at MS not fleshing the Phone OS out fully, giving me what I want/need - and marketing the hell out of it for sales and support from people like the BBC. Aggghhhh :)

All my devices (today) are Android. Yet I don't use Gmail, or Google contacts or calendar. I use Exchange Activesync to a non-Google server for all that. The only data of mine that Google can spy on is my apps I download and movies I rent from the Google Play store.
That is assuming, of course, that Google doesn't have some deeply embedded spy software. I doubt that they do, but in any event, MS could also have that kind of spy software embedded and it would be even easier for MS since WP8 is not open source.

Agree with you on many of your points... I would like to add that while there is a ton of good to say about the evolution of MS you have to question their management of winphone when you see them do something so stupid as to rip Zune out of WinPhone without a viable replacement when, as the iPhone showed, one of the major functions of a phone today is media management, consumption and syncing. Utterly ignorant, and they are in lala land seemingly not in any real hurry to fill the horrendous gap they created or even really acknowledge it other than to say unbeleivably "use iTunes". I am losing patience with the reapearance of the old rigid, blind, MS guard and their way of doing things. I will jump ship if I see they continue down this road... xBox convergence or not, stupidy and boatloads of money can only get you so far

Why are you all loosing patience? I don't get it. MS are doing so much to bring features and services to WP. Integrating it with Windows down the line with Blue. They, like Nokia, have been courting and incentivising developers for months to get apps to the market. The SDK came late, it's been 4 months, apps are coming but you cannot expect miracles.
As for feautres, I want to hear what they are adding next, but you know what, if they do that then people use it against them to say "this is missing, it should be here now". It'd be like an official admission things are missing. Also, it lets the competition know what is coming, giving too much away. It's why the MS dev team have gone silent. I find it annoying, but I understand the sensible business decision behind it. It's not like Apple announce what's coming with iOS, or even Google with Android. Why do people expect MS to be different there? They are as open as they can be and I'd say more open than the competition. Sure we want it all now, but it does take time and I've no doubt they are doing their best to make it happen asap. They know what's at stake, they know they need to catch up and at the same time fight not give Blackberry a chance to be third.
Could they advertise more? I honestly don't know as I never watch TV so have no idea if they market more or less than Apple & Google. Are there such things as "Android adverts"? I doubt it, just adverts by the companies that make Android products and the carriers who sell them. As for Google themselves, I doubt they advertise - except for the own Nexus hardware. So if MS make a "Surface Phone" we'll see ads, I don't expect them to do so before then.
I have some bugs and gripes with my 920, but nothing serious and even though it doesn't do everything my Android phone did, it's so much more pleasant to use that I am happy to wait for what's coming next and I really think you all should relax and enjoy your phones.

I agree in so much as I'm not fond of Google's business model. People don't understand that ad-supported does not equate to free (in the sense that there is a substantial premium on many of the things we buy to fund their advertising) and that people's perception of getting something free seems to make them less likely to avoid using a product that has something wrong with it (for example a bad privacy policy). In that way there is a decreased tendency for consumers to 'vote with their wallets' and so we don't necessarily see the products improve in the ways they should. It also makes it difficult for paid competitors to compete even with a better product. For example I'm kind of worried that MS Office may become unviable in favour of the awful google docs.
That said I am/will be seriously considering my first android handset when the next galaxy comes out because of Microsoft's lethargy in dealing with adding missing features and generally fixing windows phone. When you are behind in the game with as much money as them why would you be so slow to improve your product in aim to get feature parity? It seems the others are just getting further ahead in capabilities and features. I understand not having a lot new at WP8 launch due to the kernel change, but the launch WP8 build was more or less done 6 months ago. We can't wait for 'Blue' for new features if that won't be here til 2014. To me it just seems android is getting further ahead, when WP should be catching up.

The enthusiasm you see from Ben Rudolph is his job. He is paid to show that energy. For all you know he slips out his iPhone 5 the moment he goes home. Same goes for Joe Belfiore who's sort of a public figure too.

Spirits were high when mango was released. But it would seem with Apollo and portico.. Windows phone fan morale is low. We need another victory. A big update to put us on par with android/iphone, instagram app release, a truly USEFUL wallet app with developer backing (the right dev is everything), a more enthusiastic Xbox gaming push. We neeeed this

The problem is MS keeps going sideways, not forward. Add something, lose something else. WP8 is not better than WP7. In many ways it is worse. In some ways, much worse. And the things that really needed doing, like making the email client not unbearable, making something -- anything -- to make notifications usable, upgrade the built-in office client past suckface, giving us a solution for PDFs, upgrading (not ripping the guts out of) Zune, etc., just didn't get done.

And for all the talk of ecosystem, which undoubtedly is a major part of why people would chose a MS platform: where is the Skype client that equals the one on iOS or Android? Where is the world-beating Exchange integration? Where is the tie-in with Xbox? Where is Xbox video?

What about the ability to use "Categories? What about a "real" single inbox so that, if I have multiple accounts I can choose from which one reply. What about a single " sent items" box. Of course all these features should be available as an option.

Are you joking? It is an unusable POS. How come I can't attach anything other than a pic/vid. How come I can't edit the contents of an email before I forward/reply? How come I can't forward/reply from an account other than the one I received the email from? How come the live tile goes back to zero when all I do is open the app, rather than showing me the number of unread messages? Where are the color codes for type? How can I set a flag with a to-do date so I get a reminder to respond at an appropriate time? How can I attach one email to another (not just forward)? These are all features I use many times daily, each. I could do most of them on my last three smartphones, a Treo (PalmOS), an E71 (Symbian) and a Pre (webOS), but not my new 920.

Well said. Exactly why I've completely lost faith in Microsoft. I'll continue to use my Windows Phone and Xbox. But that's it! My tablet is a Galaxy tab 2 & I no longer have a home PC or laptop. But if I did it would not be Windows 8.

Exactly right. To me it seems like they have about 10 people working on windows phone and all of them are trying to go in different directions. They need thousands of people all moving towards making it feature wise better than its competitors. The live tile interface was good 3 years ago but the tiles need to be more flexible to compete with widgets. And the UI needs to not have elements where you can only see part of a word (for example when I'm looking for a song I want to be able to see the whole title, not just half of it. Metro was a good idea but someone overcooked it. Fix the damn UI microsoft!

In fact why not scrap tiles as a replacement for notifications because that is not working. Counters disappear when you load the app even when you still have unread messages. And there is not enough customisation for developers. They need to be able to add their own graphics and animation, and have access to more tile UI elements than just text or a counter. They should make live tiles more flexible, but make them like a more customisable google now - providing the information relevant to the user at the time, whilst important notifications are kept in the notification centre.

I'm also a blackberry fan (hence my name, lol)...and I've also wondered why bb didn't commit to strong advertising especially since a completely new platform bb10 was emerging. Like the new college student video, there were ton of other commercials,but not from the manufacturer itself. (in my opinion the super bowl commercial did nothing to show users what bb can do.)

I wonder if they r going to sell the windows phone platform in the near future... And if so, if Nokia will be the future owner. Its almost as if they are neglecting it like a cinderella-like stepchild....its a beautiful interface and with careful attention, could be the 'newness' that Android and ios users are now craving!

Huh. There's been quite alot of marketing here in the UK. Although not over the past few weeks, it was only just over a month ago that there were Windows Phone branded digital ad booths along with a kiosk to try out the windows phone with representatives at a major shopping centre. Alongside that I've seen plenty of bus stop ads and around that time also saw the TV advertisement plenty of times.

I can't see them constantly marketing it... you don't see Google or Apple doing it constantly. It'll be in bursts. Doom and gloom ftw!

Google and apple own the mobile market between them, they have no need to advertise. Microsoft on the other hand is so far behind they have to advertise the product if they want consumers to even know it exists.

This, definitely. Every time I get on the underground (I live in Germany) I see an ad for Windows Phone, keep seeing press ads as well. I would say that Microsoft is doing a good job of getting the word out, and the important place to be is on the street and in the mobile phone shops. No chance for me to go see a booth in Barcelona but I'm starting to see WP being pushed harder in shops, in print ads, in ads from Saturn, etc. etc.. Certainly the ads in the underground and in print are placed by Microsoft because they are the same line talking about "this person's phone" and the phone changes, sometimes it's a Lumia, sometimes it's the 8X.

My love affair with Windows phone is over.. The lack of things they promised me when they were talking about wp8 before it released isn't here yet. All the problems with syncing and Xbox music should not be happening, or taking so long to fix IMO... I wish I wouldn't have jumped on the band wagon so early....

I still love windows phone maybe because I have only had it for 2 months, bit so far all they need to do is fix Xbox music sync. To be honest I don't need a notification center since the lock screen does that and live tiles so personaly I would just get the live tiles working properly.

WP could be incredible but its not and that's microsofts fault. They are incompetent. The released wp7,7.5,8 that wasn't finished and now 7.8. But the problem is that 8 feels more like a 7.8 than a new os. Its missing so many key features and son really simple one. Why isn't there the ability to create albums for photos? How simple can that be.

Microsoft shouldn't advertise WP much as Nokia, HTC, Samsung, etc... They don't make a phone they make the OS. How many Windows 8 commericials do you see? You see Surface commericals because that is the product.

Exactly. I know what you mean. Just like Google, you don't see them advertising Android with commercials, its all the OEMs like Samsung and HTC and such that are. Google makes the software but relies on the OEMs to advertise it on tv. When it comes to internet advertising, thats a different story.

There's a difference though - Google doesn't charge for its OS, but Microsoft does. So Microsoft is making money off the phones, and would have an incentive (and posibly partial responsibility) to advertise.

I forgot to mention that I know a former IBM engineer that said the same for its company...that IBM really didn't see itself as a mobile friendly company and that's why they sold their laptop division to an Asian company- who rebranded it as Lenovo.

I'm just relaying part of a conversation between myself and a high-level manager who was with IBM for 20+ years. I was also only referring to the laptop division and not the regular PC or all in ones that they sell....no harm done, no harm intended.

Microsoft has sucked at advertising for a long time. They get great products like Windows Media Center which still amazes people when I tell them I can record 4 HD channels at once on my PC, but they don't know how to get the word out to the masses. Apple can turn around and release the exact same thing and people will think they just sliced the first loaf of bread because thier ad agencies will make it look like they're selling that thing you never knew you had to have.
Ballmer said there'd be a lot more Windows Phone ads out there and I do see them in print but the TV ads have pretty much disappeared in my area since Windows 8 hit the streets.

This. I realize that WMC is not "the way of the future" with hosted "cloud" video services, as the rest of the industry wants things to be. But if Microsoft could have made this a cohesive product to be offered by some cable competitor like satellite or AT&T U-verse, rather than trusting OEMs like HP to do the dirty work of providing the HTPC + Tuner + Remote, this would have been an amazing leap forward over cable set-top boxes that still suck to this day. I'm preparing to trade in my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC for a WMC PC with 4 tuners. Not only will I be able to store more TV, record twice as many shows at once, and copy those shows to other PCs, DVD, etc; but I won't have to pay Time Warner $10/month for their pitifully slow box.

I do think Microsoft is (or should be) working aggressively bringing those Windows 8 gestures to Windows Phone. I was staring at an app earlier today, wanted to swipe from the top to bring up the menu, knowing I couldn't do it. My feeling is Microsoft doesn't talk much about current generaton products when they know something new is coming imminently. Another possibility is that they are moving Windows Phone to Windows Division instead of Device, and there are some management bad blood occurring. If the later is the case it's quite unfortunate.

Microsoft is in dying need of restructuring and getting in new people to get the job done..honestly it just feels they have their heads up their asses. I just sense no humility and understanding of the kind of effort they need to give. WP is a great product, but that doesn't matter if it isn't given a fuckload of attention and pushing to the consumers, given the situation with the smartphone market.

Microsoft needed a good jump start with Windows Phone 8. They should have done the same thing they did with Windows 8 and offered the Surface Phone upon release.

Leaving ANYTHING up to Nokia is a mistake. They screwed up the 920 release by making it exclusive. Imagine the "what could have been" if TMOB and VZW had a like device from Nokia late in 2012 to release. NOW, Microsoft wants to leave all advertising and positioning up to Nokia? Again, big mistake.

Also, to add insult to injury, HTC announces NO NEW WINDOWS PHONES in 2013 this week.

Hell, my Nokia on VZW doesn't even have Portico yet. Seems like one black eye after the next.

They haven't had to work this hard in so long, they don't know what to do. The 360 was the last time they actually had to bust their asses to be relevant. That was 8 years ago. Windows phone is an impressive product and Nokia has made it cooler than pre Nokia. But at the end of the day, if Microsoft doesn't write those checks to Zuckerberg for Instascam, take windows out of the name, buy some time on Glee and The Voice and roll out some A list stars Like Bieber, Beyonce, GaGa, Rihanna, Ryan Gosling ....etc, its going to fail. These actions are completely opposite the traditional method of building a fan base. But these aren't traditional times. Its like old people trying to market to young people. In theory they know what they're doing but in reality they just don't get it.

I completely agree! That's why I compared this to BlackBerry. They went through the exact same thing. They hired new executives, and got the ball rolling to produce a fresh new os bb10. But a lot of young ppl still don't know about it. The difference is, wp8 is sooo user friendly. The UI is refreshing, techy, elegant, all at the same time. Combine the trendiness of a fresh UI with the colorful combinations of phones and start screens, and you'll be begging teens to please leave some on the shelf.
What Microsoft (like IBM) doesn't realize is that by marketing some products to a trendy-forward audience only increases the likelihood of sales. The galaxy s 3 was popular before it was even released but they still had a ton of commercials.
At the end of the day, when u walk into a carrier store or visit their website, most windows phones r not getting the same advertising as other devices. Therefore proper advertising will give it a better playing field.
If they are depending upon Nokia for the bulk of their advertising needs...my mother used to say: "Never put all your eggs in the same basket..."

I feel like I've been waiting for something magical to happen since 2010...its getting difficult, im not as excited as I used to be. Its a great OS, don't get me wrong. It just feels like something is missing with the way its being handled by Microsoft. Without us and Nokia, things would really be bad. It seems like Nokia folks work hard enough to own the rights to WP8.

I feel the same way I still love WP over ios or driod. However can only go so many years waiting for Microsoft to deliver on its promises. I have no plans on leaving WP but I am def not excited anymore. Its just one continuous loop of waiting for another update that want be what was touted.

How many commercials does Google do for Android? Android became big because Verizon started pushing it big time. On Androids the oems and carriers do the advertising. The question is why aren't the carriers doig more to push a third ecosystem. It's in their best interest not to let Google or Apple get to strong.

I agree with this 100%. Android was a niche until Verizon pushed it big. AT&T is Windows Phone's premier partner and has done more to promote the brand than any other carrier (not saying much) but they still sold and promoted iPhone and Android. Since T-Mobile is in 4th place, maybe they could make a deal where the carrier goes exclusive?

It isn't just advertising, we're asking why Microsoft isn't backing WP as though it were a key Microsoft product!

Look at how much money they poured into Xbox over the years, if only WP had like 1/5 or even 1/10 of that love we probably would see apps like Instagram, Flipboard, official Facebook, etc, by now. In fact, forget the apps, we would probably see those services deeply integrated into the OS on an unparallel level. For example, Instagram baked into the Lenses and People's Hub, or Facebook's VoIP services hooked into the People's Hub and running in the background. Or how about the fact that although we have Xbox branding on the phone, we don't have key Xbox titles such as Halo or Forza to push WP as a value added platform to Xbox 360 users?
Money can make WP's world go round on a scale we'd have difficulty imagining right now IF Microsoft poured in the requisite amount of financial and human resources.

Android did well because they took davantage of the window of opportunity offered by Apple selling a high priced, vers locked down device and MS That, after ditching Photon that was already late, waisted more time getting WP7, which at launch was really an half backed product. Google got the right time of exécution, something that could slip away for MS if they do not act quickly.

I wonder if it might relate to letting the manufacturers of the handsets do some work. Microsoft probably have a very little voice with people like carriers compared to a company such as Nokia. How much advertising of Android does Google do? Most of the advertising comes from the likes of HTC.

As lame as the new ipad commercials are, they are on tv. I don't recall seeing one Windows Phone commercial during the NASCAR, the Oscars, the Grammy's. Not sure how they expect to reach a large audience....oh right, movie theaters. Good lord.
Oh look another ipad commercial.

I wouldn't bet against Nokia buying the Windows Phone OS and making it their own you know... And before anyone laughs, I really don't think that's beyond the realms of possibility, despite it allegedly being part of Microsoft's new look. Microsoft's lack of marketing, or swift action, is increasingly concerning. Its almost as if there secretly admitting defeat. I worry for Nokia, not Microsoft.

They have a huge Fall planned with XBox and the Haswell chips leading into Atom 64-bit tablets. Nokia is getting the phones out globally at the right price points. Its a good time for them not to over sell. Next year the whole eco system is out, Everything will be Blue, And hardware prices will be more accomodating. Put this in persepctive. Where were they at last year at this point? No where. Lumia 900s hadn't shipped. Windows 8 was in Developer preview. Skype was buried. Office Web Apps and Sky Drive were getting some basic updates. Within 2 years from May 2012 to May 2014 they wiill reinvent their entire business.

Didn't we say this last year about the Win8/WP8 rollout? It's always this attitude of "the next big thing is going to bring the breakthrough." I've been with WP since 12/2010 and I'm getting tired of TALK. Enough excuses, enough of playing catch-up.

Betting that the competition will stand still is a very foolish gamble. It could happen, it happened to both Palm that was the king of the PDA market and to MS itself when WM had 50% of the market but, again relying and hoping solely to other companies mistakes is asinine.

Between WP8, Windows 8, Windows RT and Surface (plus XBox and Office), I think MS has too much going on. I own and like the promise behind each of these products, however it's 2013 and they are each too limited for the markets they compete in. It appears MS does not have enough talent to quickly address the widespread and signficant problems/limitations users are experiencing with their products.

Daniel, don't you review articles getting posted here? I can't believe you let this one get by. Look at the clicking whoring title geez. Very disappointed in wpcentral. I thought wpc was better than others.

The reason MS has to produce Surface RT/Pro tablet, because no other OEM can produce the good products yet. MS needs to do that to set up the bar for them to follow. As for WP, Nokia's already done an awesome job. That is why there is no need for MS phone.

Speak for yourself; I would buy a Surface phone with updates coming straight from MS as for my Windows OS immediately. Although I do not buy carriers crippled phones I still have to deal with Nokia nonsense releasing updates to carriers before that to its own devices.

So I guess Google has some issues with Android because they let the OEM's market the products? I also guess there are some serious issues with xbox since I can't remember the last time I saw an ad. I can't believe I wasted my time to even look at this waste of bandwidth. This is not news - it is an ill informed op-ed piece. People really need to get some perspective. Apple directly markets its i products because they actually manufacture and sell them. The same goes for BlackBerry, except in that case I use the term sell very loosely. Microsoft markets the hardware it directly sells and markets Winodws and Office because those are their signature products. AT&T has marketed Windows Phone heavily and even VZW has thrown some money around. Nokia has also obviously spent some serious money (anyone want to take a guess as to the source of most of that money?). There has been high visibility since release and numbers are supposedly significantly up from WP7. Another day and another unfounded bit of op ed from people looking for hits on their sites.

As a person who is addicted to technology and looking at all the angles when it comes to making a purchase, I have played with Android, Blackberry, iOS and Windows Phone and the latter is by far the best in terms of UI and Usablity.
However as it relates to support from the vendor itself, Microsoft has left the support of their Platform up to the OEM's building the devices on which to run the OS. Strange isn't it?

I dont think there is an advertising issue as i am reading through the comments, i see windows phone advertising all the time especially gwen stefani's windows phone add. I see her and Cam's the most. The problem is not advertising to me, they invested and i think the commercials are out there.

I think the problem with windows phone platform now is that they essentially beta tested everyone with wp7 and wp8 is not too much different in terms of game changing features. Yes we got lock screen stuff and some more options, but essentially the OS isnt too much different. The problem i have with MS is the lack of integration taht they had promised months ago, getting games/apps within reasonable time after announcing (pandora), and integrate a division you own into that OS like skype. They haven't done enough to get people to move over, yes the OS is different, but there needs to be great execution as well and MS is not doing that very well, imo.

What happened to that early adoption program thingy, what happened to pandora, those EA games, those gameloft games, all these wonderful apps, can't even purchase and watch vidoes on your phone, can't purchase video on xbox and watch on your phone like they said it would, poor implementation with skype and skydrive. Skydrive and skype should not be seperate apps, they need to be in the OS and fully integrated. I really hope the skype and skydrive is a bridge towards a fully integrated experience for the two, if not, i question the competency of the decision maker within MS to do that.

I want MS to speak up about WP, but they could be silent because of tie-ins with Blue and neXtBOX. Too much is going on inside Microsoft and they can't spill the beans on one product without rumors coming out on the others. Remember their main goal... Three screens and the cloud.

Lots of ads here via ESPN and all the "Mainstream" TV channels featuring celebs.
That said, I love my nokia 920 camera, but once someone else copies the hardware im out. Windows 8 is a nice compliment to the hardware (cold touch and oIS camera) but the system sucks for anything more then basic business tasks.
Once SG4 comes out or a comporable camera phone, Im leaving

Rich, why would you expect Microsoft to be present at MWC? Its generally, where new things are introduced. WP is not new, its old, and IMHO, MWC is not a right place to push the OS. I think, the converse would have happened, ie., if MS were present, there, it would have given an indication, that the OS is still not up and running. Its for the same reason, why Blackberry is not there. On the other hand, MWC can be a perfect place for MS to introduce, say, XBOX or a new tablet or its own phone (just for the heck of it ;)

Can we please stop this bait for replies WPCentral? You don't need it.
It's not MS's job to promote Windows Phone. That's OEM's role. Microsoft tried it, but the OEM's didnt want to. So why spend time on marketing while everyone else besides Nokia doesn't want to help the ecosystem.
If i were MS i would just license Windows Phone exclusively to Nokia and just forget the rest. Let them just die with their piece of shit Android system and let's see who is laughing the last.

I would argue that the problem has nothing to do with hardware. I has doesn't have much to do with advertising. I would even argue that it doesn't have a whole lot to do with the OS itself. I think the real issue when it comes to Microsoft and WP is software. By software, I mean applications. Sure, Windows Phone isn't quite at feature parity with Android or iOS, but it's pretty self-sufficient at this point in terms of the OS by itself. There are nagging issues, and some more major ones, but nothing platform breaking.

if WP had the developer support that it needs to get off the ground, then people wouldn't mind the issues with the OS, because what is getting attention is that which matters most to people. Everyone wants what everyone else has, and what Windows Phone needs is what everyone else has, and to have a close to parity version, feature wise, if not a better one. If all of the major social networking apps were supported by the developers of those networks, if there was one official YouTube app, if a lot of the more major official apps seemed to be as aesthetically and functionally appealing as, say, the new Twotter update, then that's what attracts people. The OS is the starting point to get them in the door, but you have to move to keep people beyond the initial honeymoon period and how you do that is through the apps and continued support of those apps. Some of it isn't their fault, to a degree. It just comes with being late. Some of it is, though. It shouldn't be Nokia who is trying to capture apps and win over developers. It should be MS.
If they expect to even win third place, then they have to fight for that support. You'll get more people to the platform, more developers to fuel the ecosystem, alliance with the major companies and thereby potential dibs on support for new features, and you'll get free advertising, because more and more people will be convinced through word of mouth.

People arguing that Microsoft doesn't need to advertise because Google doesn't are being silly. Google is the top mobile OS, they don't need to advertise. The reason the OEMs advertise Android is because they want you to buy their Android phone over the other guys'. Windows Phone has one exclusive manufacturer. HTC seems to have thrown together a solid phone and it seems, for Samsung, Windows Phone is a side hobby.
Being a distant third place with 3 more mobile OSes coming out over the next year or so means they need to get a hell of a lot more aggressive than they have been.

"Number two, we work with operators. Operators want to rebalance the ecosystem." I am not sure what does this statement imply but, as consumer, I know that their wishes are usually the opposite of mine.